


Sins of the Mother

by MidwesternDuchess



Series: Scripted Scenes [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: all dialogue is canon, also part of a project I'm starting, featuring Mom!Robin and Daughter!Lucina bc that's the way I experienced it and it Fucked Me Up, the scene where Lucina tries to talk herself into killing Robin, yeah y'all it's That Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-25 22:27:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13844310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidwesternDuchess/pseuds/MidwesternDuchess
Summary: "I store up nights against you / Heavy with shut-flower’s nightmares." -Mina Loy(Falchion feels like a dead weight in her hands, and under her mother’s stare, she crumples to her knees.)





	Sins of the Mother

"Beg pardon, Mother. Might I have a word?"

Robin tries not to start at the sound of Luci— _her daughter's—_ voice.

It's still somewhat difficult to think of her that way. Lucina is a fascinating young woman—calm and capable and brilliant in battle. Her skill with a blade is unmatched, and on more than one occasion, Lucina has suggested a tactical move moments before Robin herself was going to make the same call. She is attentive to the needs of those around her, sincere in word and deed, and utterly devoted to her cause.

Robin surveys her daughter as she crosses the field towards her, marveling at this being fashioned from the best parts of herself and Chrom, and yet entirely of her own design—completely independent and inimitable.

Lucina stops a few feet away, head tilted slightly to the side as she takes in her mother's continued silence with a small frown. The angle makes the light strike her eye in a way that illuminates the Brand on her iris, and Robin's lips curve in a soft smile.

"Lucina," she greets her kindly. "What is it?"

Her eyes catch on the tautness of the young lord's stance—arms held rigidly at her side, one hand clutching Falchion's hilt in a white-knuckle grip, jaw so taut she seems to strain with the effort. Robin's eyes flit between the tells of her daughter's body language, before she forces herself to abandon her reflexive appraisal.

This is Lucina. There is no reason to analyze her as an enemy, or search for some hidden motive.

Her daughter lets loose a shaky exhale.

She won't meet Robin's eyes—content to stare out into the sun-stained fields surrounding them. She takes a few steps, the grass crunching under her boots as she moves to stand before the day's last rays, giving her back to the tactician. Robin tracks the movement, watching as her daughter's new position places her directly before the falling sun.

Her diadem catches the light, and it gleams with a brilliance so blinding, Robin forces her gaze away.

"It's about Father," Lucina begins quietly, and Robin looks up to see her daughter has moved in such a way that she blocks the sun completely—silhouetted against the coming nightfall—causing her mother to fall into shadow behind her. "I have memories of him, you know. From when I was little. Before he…died."

Robin nods slowly, brushing back few strands of wayward hair. She's delighted to speak with Lucina, but slightly less than thrilled at the chosen topic. Her brain is spinning with questions— _Why is no one else around? Why is she so nervous? Why won't she turn and face me?—_ but forces herself to put those thoughts to death.

This is not a battle. There is nothing to fear here.

"I see…" Robin offers, inviting Lucina to continue without actively pushing her to speak.

She watches as Lucina ducks her head, lowering her eyes to the sword that hangs at her side.

"He was courageous, and kind, and everyone spoke fondly of him," Lucina goes on. Her voice has taken on a faraway, distant tone. Wistfulness and nostalgia. Robin tilts her head, wishing she could see her face.

"People say he was brave up until the very end. I always yearned to know him better. And now that I do…" Something is warring inside Lucina—Robin can hear her tone teeter on a knife's edge. "I can see that the world will be robbed of a very great man…I won't allow that to happen."

Robin nods slowly, touched by the raw sincerity of her daughter's words, but unnerved by her tension. "I understand. You love him." She pauses, frowning as she watches Lucina's shoulders go stiff—the bones across her back standing out like knives "…As do I."

Silence.

Robin's pulse pounds in her ears, and she fists her hands, nails biting into her palms as she fights the instinct to reach for her Thoron tome—

This is not a battle.

"Mother, I…" Lucina's voice cracks. "Please, forgive me…"

Robin sees Lucina's fingers curl around Falchion's hilt and knows—a heartbeat and a half before it happens she _knows—_ the exact sound the sword will make as it clears its sheath, the exact way its edge will gleam in the light, the exact grip Lucina will take as she holds it aloft.

Robin knows all this before it happens—only a second but she's worked with less—but still, she stands. She stands and she waits in the shadows cast by her daughter's form, hoping for once in her life that she'll be wrong, that she's misread the signs, that she made a mistake—

_This is_ _**not** _ _a battle._

Lucina draws her blade—the very same sword at her father's side—and turns to level it evenly at her mother.

Falchion glints malevolently in the fading light, and for a moment, Robin can do nothing but stare. She's never feared the legendary sword—but then she's never had to face it. Robin watches Lucina step forward, holding Falchion in a grip she's seen Chrom use hundreds and hundreds of times. She probably learned the maneuver from the Exalt himself.

Robin feels her heartbeat kick up as her battle instincts kick in—grab her tome, duck out of the sword's reach, make for the cover of the trees—her brain begins spitting tactical information at her, but for once, Robin does not heed it.

The reflexes of a mother overpower the reflexes of a tactician.

This _is_ a battle. But this is also her daughter.

"Lucina?" Even to her own ears, Robin sounds shaken. Backlit by the receding sun, Lucina's features are cast into shadow, and Robin moves forward, trying to see clearly, trying to _understand—_

"Stay where you are, Mother!" Lucina's voice trembles, but her sword hand is absolutely steady. "I have no choice. I _must_ kill you."

Robin recoils like she's been struck. _"What?_ What madness is this?"

Lucina's fingers flex where she holds the blade. "In my future, you…you kill Father."

A thousand feelings grapple for control the moment the words are out of her daughter's mouth—anger, pain, fear, sorrow. Robin staggers back a step, jaw loose, eyes wide.

 _"_ _No!"_ she shouts, the force of her denial causing Lucina to blink in surprise. "That's _insane!_ Why would I kill Chrom?"

Lucina regains her poise, and Robin watches with narrowed eyes as her daughter takes a second step towards her.

"I was not certain myself, until now…I knew he had been killed by his closest friend. Having witnessed your bond with him, I doubted it could be so…" Robin works her jaw, trying to marshal her temper.

This is not a battle. It _can't_ be a battle.

Lucina continues on with determination. "But today's events make it clear. You are at Validar's mercy. I suspect it's he who forces you to take Father's life, and very soon…"

Silence bleeds between them as the sun sinks lower, slowly revealing Lucina's expression. Robin studies her daughter's countenance—her regal features and proud profile. Her chin tilts up defiantly in the exact manner Chrom's does when he's displeased, and the snarl she bares mirrors the one Robin reveals in her fiercest moods.

Robin takes a breath.

_Not a battle._ _**Not** _ _a battle._

"Lucina, wait—"

"If Father is right, then we can change our fates." Lucina rushes to speak across her mother now, and Robin doesn't know who she is trying to convince. Her even, tempered tone has been abandoned for a swift, anxious cadence. Robin has heard Lucina speak with unbridled passion, vicious anger, and heartbreaking apology. She has yelled and screamed and cried and laughed and joked and whispered and sang—but she has never sounded so _scared._

"If this dark future is to be averted, sacrifices _must_ be made."

Her face—so lovely and proud and kind—cracks under her own grief, and Robin watches as the Brand in her daughter's eye shimmers with unshed tears.

"I am sorry, Robin!" Ylisse's tactician flinches at the sound of her own name. "I know this is matricide, I…I _know_ that…" She chokes on a sob—her swordsmanship crumbling as she struggles to keep control, Falchion wavering in her grip.

Robin takes another step. If she were to reach out, she could prick her finger on the blade's tip.

"Lucina, you don't have to—" she begins.

The princess physically jolts away from Robin's words, Falchion flashing in the light as she spins it around to adjust her grip, holding the sword vertical before her eyes. "Don't make it harder! It…" she swallows, throat bobbing as she stares Robin down. "…will be swift and painless. If you hold any love for Chrom, then let this be done…"

Her words draw Robin up short.

She is not a diplomat—war and tactics are second nature to her, and come more naturally than any attempts to brook peace. Robin has always placed her trust in maps and books and strategy—she cannot afford to lose, in any capacity, and she resolves this by doing whatever she has to do to ensure she's left with a winning hand.

This _is_ a battle—and Robin is very, _very_ good at winning battles.

Falchion splits her daughter's face in half, and Robin meets her gaze on either side of the blade.

"…My life is yours," she says softly. Her hands uncurl and fall slack at her side, Thoron tome forgotten. She was never truly reaching for it anyway. "It always has been."

She thinks of Emmeryn—of all the nights after her sacrifice that Robin had been up, awake, anxious, pacing her tent, unable to sleep, unable to stop seeing that horrible image of the Exalt _falling_ —

She thinks she understands now—how someone could do that.

And if this is her fall, she will step off the cliff without a second thought.

Her easy acceptance seems to shock Lucina, whose eyes go wide at her mother's words.

"D-don't say that, Mother!" she insists, even though—truly—this is exactly what she asked for. "Don't! That only…makes it harder." Tears are streaking down her face now, marring her face with shimmering tracks.

"I would give my life for Chrom…and for you." Robin tries for a smile—anything to put her daughter at ease.

Lucina is properly crying now, and Robin resists the urge to sweep forward and wipe her tears away. "Mother, _please…"_

"I know you will be quick about it." Emmeryn had been smiling when she fell, and it had haunted Robin for weeks. But in this moment, she feels her own lips curve. She isn't happy—she isn't even relieved. Content? Robin isn't sure. All she knows is she is the Grandmaster of the Ylissean Army, and if the only way she can ensure a victory is to seal her own fate, so be it.

And so she smiles. "I love you, Lucina."

"M- _Mother…"_

Robin casts a cursory glance around. This field reminds her of the one she'd awoken in so long ago—back when she'd had nothing more to her name than just that. She'd always wanted to go back there, but she supposes this one will do.

The wind picks up, playing with the ends of her hair and the hem of her coat. Her hand comes up to smooth the wayward strands back, an automatic gesture.

"…I'm ready," she murmurs, looping the hair behind her ear. "Do what you must."

"I…I…" Lucina's voice splinters—sorrow robbing her of speech.

Behind them, the sun finally sinks down below the horizon, taking the light with it and plunging mother and daughter into darkness.

Beneath her mother's eyes, the future Exalt falls to her knees.

"Damn me," she whispers, roughly rubbing at her eyes. She yells in frustration then, slamming her fist against the ground, her whole body trembling. _"Damn_ me! I can't _do_ it!"

Falchion gleams dully from its forgotten place in the grass. Robin can only watch, rooted to the spot—

"I can't do it!" Lucina rages again, and Robin flinches as she strikes the ground once more, tears soaking the dirt beneath her. "I love you too much! I'm _sorry,_ Mother. I'm so sorry!" She stutters on a gasp—her breath unable to keep pace with the force of her grief. She cannot look her mother in the eye.

 _"_ _Please,"_ she whispers, head bowed, unarmed, on her knees before the woman that will someday kill her father. "Please, forgive me."

Lucina starts as Robin drops to her knees beside her in the grass, gaze swinging up, eyes red-rimmed and tearful—

Robin seizes her daughter in a hug, and Lucina is stiff for but a moment before she is hugging her back, clutching at her mother's coat, burying her face in its familiar folds, crying as Robin brings her hand up to card her fingers through Lucina's hair in an action with a phantom familiarity—the ghost of a memory she does not yet claim.

"My poor girl…" Robin whispers into her hair, kissing the crown of her head, lips brushing against her tiara, the metallic tang reminding her of the taste of blood.

"There's nothing to forgive."

**Author's Note:**

> heyo guess who's back!!
> 
> so this month is March. ~~technically still March 1st in central time~~ and literally nothing related to Fire Emblem happens this month, but fuck it. I wrote a fic for every day this month (that's thirty fics!!) that are all based on canon scenes and have dialogue pulled from the actual game. I love inventing new scenarios and situations for the characters, but thought it might be fun to instead revisit some of my favorite canon moments across the enitre franchise and maybe embellish them a little.
> 
> I mean I don't really know tbh but after fic number fifteen I was like "oh I guess I'm like actually doing this."
> 
> This whole project was inspired by this [lovely piece of art](http://reduxroyal.tumblr.com/post/165130507740/lionsona-bad-end) by [@lionexe](http://lionexe.tumblr.com/). That scene really fuckin shook me my first playthrough of Awakening (I was married to Chrom so this is the exact dialogue I got except I was worried accepting Lucina's fate would give me a Game Over screen)
> 
> I hope you liked it, and if you want, you can read the game script [here!](https://serenesforest.net/wiki/index.php/Chapter_21:_Five_Gemstones_\(Script\)#If_Robin_is_Married_to_Chrom)
> 
> _Like this piece? Here’s my billboard!_
> 
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